April has left me spinning. Jason and I have done a lot of packing, and even more driving. In a matter of weeks, Jason and I drove from Ogden-Payson, from Payson-Vegas, from Vegas-Ogden, from Ogden-Cheyenne, from Cheyenne-Omaha, from Omaha to St. Louis, from St. Louis to Nashville, from Nashville to Charlotte, from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach, and from Myrtle Beach back to Charlotte. It's a good thing we like being in our car. And as Jason would say, "It's a good thing we like paying $50 for gas! Try $50 x like 10 fillups. Lame!
Anyways, the time has come for Jason and I to begin our annual Pinnacle summer. This year we'll be in the Carolinas, Charlotte specifically and we have been so excited. Before coming out we tied up all the loose ends in Ogden- me quitting my job as an optician, packing up all our wedding gifts and seperating exactly what of all our posessions are priorities. When we moved to Miami two summers ago we packed the TL so tight I had to carry the purse I bought in Atlanta on my lap on the way back to Utah we were THAT full. So this time around I was determined to pack LIGHT and only take the essentials. Justifying a clock, picture frames, cute dishes, etc., were a must of course, but even when we'd loaded up the car we still had a nook for Ollie's bed in the backseat. YES!
But before we moved off to NC, we spent last-minute time with family in Las Vegas. My in-laws got me tickets to Phantom of the Opera for Christmas and with the insanity of our wedding I hadn't made it to Vegas since Thanksgiving. Ever since we saw Wicked in New York (which can I just say was AMAZING! *Sidenote: I literally dreamt about Wicked last night and woke up belting out the tunes, haha) I had been wanting to see Phantom or The Lion King in Vegas. I saw Phantom at the Capitol Theater years ago, but everything's better in Vegas right? ;) So sweet Debbie, upon hearing my plead to go, got tickets!
Sorry it's blurry, I'm still getting used to my new phone. But now that I have it working right, can I just say how much I love snapping phone pics instead of lugging my chunky Nikon everywhere?!So John, Debbie, Katie and Jason and I headed down to The Venetian to settle into our THIRD row seats! Seriously, I could have reached out and tripped Raoul with my Vegas-appropriate boots if I wanted. Okay maybe not, but we were so close that we could see the sweat dripping down the actors' faces. And when the chandelier made its grand debut I swear the pyrotechnics burned my retinas. It was AWESOME! ;) Really, I get shivers just thinking about it.
Thank you John and Debbie, I loved my Christmas present!
My sister-in-law Katie had been raving about Serendipity food for weeks now, so her and I decided we had to make a trip as soon as I came into town. And what's better than good food after a good show??
Check out Debbie's chocolate cake sundae! I've never seen a slice of cake in a sundae before!Although the Serendipity in NYC was whimsical and cozy, I much prefer the LV location. Right outside Caesar's Palace, this Serendipity has outdoor and indoor seating, high ceilings, awesome lighting and wallpaper fit for a little girl's bedroom...or a cupcake wrapper.
My cousin recommended the deep-fried oreo sundae, so after our big plate of nachos our server placed in front of us a mountain of cookies and cream ice cream, caramel, hot fudge, oreos, whip cream and a cherry on top! Seriously I've never seen a sundae so big in my life! And so delicious!
I'm drooling just thinking about it. Mmmmm...
I'm drooling just thinking about it. Mmmmm...
Jason and I had a great time in Vegas with the family. We can't wait for them to visit us in Charlotte. Right guys?? ;) Soon it was back to Ogden though, for my cousin Leanne's baby shower. She is expecting her first child, a little girl, and I couldn't be more excited for her. She is due in two (?) weeks and look how little she is!
We spent time with my family too of course, though not as much as I would have liked. They were anticipating us taking Oliver, so little Ollie had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpas the night before we left. Now all I hear on the phone is, "How's Ollie?? Gosh we miss him so much. Oh and how's Jason?" I still laugh when I think about how my mom wouldn't clean up the Ollie-berries (doggy poo) by the fireplace because that was the last they had of him. Haha All the more reason to visit I guess! ;)
Ollie taking a cat-nap with Larissa
I never thought we'd get all our stuff organized and put in one place, but for the most part all our belongings are all packed up in our storage unit. Jason's brother Ben was right when he said Jason has stuff scattered all across the country!
I was sure it would take us a week to get everything packed up, but we did it all in two days and we even had time to hit David's for gelata with my family. I HATE saying goodbyes so I did it as quick as possible, in the meantime forgetting my entire box of jewelry all packed up and ready to go, as well as the Jessica Simpson heels I wear with everything. Larissa you take good care of them.
And so our adventure began. Our first stop for the night was lovely little Cheyenne, Wyoming. We weren't tired yet as we'd only driven six hours or so, but we had a system to what cities we'd sleep in, in order to avoid those axe-murderer-like towns, so we stopped in Cheyenne anyway only to find that every hotel/motel was completely full! Seriously, there was no room at the inn anywhere! One of the receptionists helping us explained that hotels are always booked there due to the oil rig stuff going on. Hmm wish I would have known that before 2 am!
Thank goodness the receptionst found us a vacant room at the Best Western, so we headed off to find it. But when the gps announced our arrival, I almost cried. What sat in front of us is the burned building shown above. Imagine seeing this at 2 in the morning in a creepy old cowboy town. And here I thought we were avoiding axe murderer locations! Turns out the Best Western was behind the creepy burned building and was indeed still standing. Phew!
Next stop was Nebraska. Part of Jason's family live outside Omaha, so they graciously invited us to dinner on our way through. I have never had homemade philly cheesesteak before, but that will definitely take a place in my recipe box! It was only day 2 of our driving adventure and I was already sick of gummy worms and Pringles.
I was a little nervous about taking a puppy across the country with us, but Ollie was a fantastic passenger. He slept and slept and slept and slept! I'm convinced the humming of the car puts him right out. As long as he wasn't in direct sunlight he would fall asleep at our feet or cradled in our arms just like a little baby. Sometimes he'd go to the backseat where his bed was, but when he wasn't sleeping he was begging us for food or chewing on the straws of our drinks sitting in the cupholders.
I couldn't believe how many antique malls and adult stores there were strewn across the country. Seriously, you'd think they went together like salt and pepper; there was never one without the other. Weird huh?!
Sweet Jason allowed us to stop at an antique mall, as halfway through Tennesee I was BORED as all getup. We had plenty of books saved on our ipod, as well as Cesar Milan's book and plenty of work training to study, but there's only so much of that you can do. Thank goodness for our Ipads, I read Ensign articles, browsed blogs, facebooked, checked out things to do in Charlotte, etc.
But back to the antique malls, we stopped at the cutest one called Apple Wagon Antiques, and I couldn't believe how much stuff was in there! Dishcloths, wreaths, picture frames, dishes, license plates, easter decorations, you name it.
I loved these lime green gravy boats. Wouldn't that add the perfect boost of color to a kitchen??
Next stop: St. Louis. Having never been to St. Louis before, I pleaded with Jason to stop for a picture by the arch. But it was such a gorgeous day we ended up spending well over an hour walking Oliver around the park.
We parked in the cutest little area of town, with cobblestone roads and horse-drawn carriage rides just like you see around Temple Square.
In our exploring, we found a tiny little food stand right along the Mississippi. A riverboat nearby was playing jazz and the weather was well over 70, so we picked a table, grabbed some cold drinks and food and had a nice little lunch right there by the river. It couldn't have been a better day, there in the sunshine with my little family and our crossthecountry adventure.
Halfway through lunch we noticed Ollie's little pink tongue hanging out and we'd never seen him do that before. With his water bowl in the car, Jason took him down to the river to cool off. He'd never been in water besides our bath sessions in the bathroom sink so I thought he'd shy away from the lapping waves. But he charged right in splashing about and going as far into the water as his leash would let him. Silly Ollie. He was such a happy camper.
Look at these gorgeous blossoms! I was so thrilled to see the park exploding with signs of springtime. Lately I've felt robbed of Spring since we left Utah's freezing snowy/rainy climate and gone straight into Charlotte's 80 degree, humid climate. I keep telling Jace, "We went from winter right into summer!" While it is officially still springtime, even in Charlotte, since we are already stationed for our "Pinnacle Summer." It's weird to see fb posts about finals and graduation when I'm sweating by the pool. But I'm not complainin! ;)
Check this out! In the middle of who-knows-where I spotted a little sign off the road saying "Giant Superman statue next exit." I seriously had deja vu just that morning about driving through Smallville and here I am looking at the actual city of Metropolis! No it's not where Smallville was filmed or anything cool like that, but this bite-size city is based around everything Superman!
I followed the signs, veering quite off our path, and we ended up right in the hustle and bustle of Metropolis....or not. At 7 pm EVERYTHING was closed and not a soul was in sight! I was SO bummed that I had finally found a Dippin' Dots store, and it was already closed. Hmph. :( But we got some "super" fun pics and decided we'll stop here on our way back to Utah at the end of the summer. My brothers would love the Superman memorabilia I could pick up.
I laughed and laughed at Jason's picture. Doesn't it look perfect??
Well after a long drive and a lot of gas fillups later, we finally pulled into Charlotte. We passed some really pretty towns and started moving into straight-up ghetto as we got closer and closer to our destination. I was starting to get pretty worried, but I kept positive with comments of, "Oh look, we'll be right by the train tracks. Oh, wow, we can eat at Bojangles..." Really, this was genuine hood, the kind of neighborhood my husband knocked at in Jersey. And appropriately witnessed a shooting at. Hmmm. Stay positive. Stay positive.
Well, we made it to our apartments. And can I just say they look nothing like the pictures on their website?? They must have had a really good advertising guy. Anyway, we talked with our manager and his wife and she told me she pretty much cried when she first saw them. I didn't cry, but man was I shocked. Pinnacle usually has such nice housing, what in the world happened this time?! I took pictures, but maybe I'll spare you. Jason said I should just post a picture of a dumpster. That would pretty much sum it up. Really, the kitchen appliances were about 20 years old, the carpet had stains scattered about every 3 inches apart, the handles were literally falling off the doors, and our whole apartment reeked of cigarette smoke. I gag just thinking about it.
So we all went apartment searching. Long story short, we rolled into town on Wednesday and we didn't get into our current apartments pictured above until Tuesday. That's why I am soooooo grateful for simple things like toliet paper, matresses, air conditioning and washer and dryers. We stayed at hotel after hotel on top of the four or so hotels we stayed in on our way out here, and on two days when we were feeling especially brave we stayed in our old apartments. Yuck. Our laundry was piling up and patience was dwindling.
So to make the best out of a bad situation, we drove down to Myrtle Beach. If we were already going to stay at a hotel, why not get one beachside right? And that's what we did. Pictures to follow.
When the apartments were finally squared away, we found ourself at Steelcroft Farms, in a lovely little area close to Lake Wylie, shopping centers, restaurants, schools, librarys, etc. I've been exploring a little more each day, and I'm thrilled about our new home. More to come on that too.
The furniture finally came on Thursday, and I came home to a shiny washer and dryer yesterday. Oh how grateful I am for the little things that make life just that much better. While we were relieved to be in our final apartments, sleeping on an air mattress sucks when it deflates all night, and doing your laundry at the clubhouse sucks when you drop all your quarters in a bush. Phew. It's been a rough week as far as that stuff goes, but I couldn't be happier to be working on Pinnacle Summer number 1 with my new hubby. We'll be working side by side the next four months with the common goal of making money. It'll be a good one. I can feel it.
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